26.12.08

Voting for these folks and ideas is apathetic, impractical and harmful

this is in the context of the Bangladesh elections.

The Probe Magazine 'analysis' suggests a BNP win, while the NewAge ''scientific' poll' points to an Awami League win. No real surprises there, and a lot to unpack if one was so inclined. If you want an answer in Bangladesh what do you do? ask people boring questions and bar chart their response, or exercise judgement?

Both means of knowing are easily misled.

The pundits are unsure as to which way young people may vote for the first time. I suggest tis will be a function of how many have been schooled correctly in the ways of the Mujib cult, associated blankslate 71ism and how they respond to the usual cynical exploitation of the 'war criminals issue'.

Giving all the parties the finger by voting no is not apathetic as it causes deeper reflection and action afterwards. My feeling is that the anti incumbency effect is most likely to bring in the Awami League this time and of course i dont like them. These people kill youths and jump on their dead bodies while being spurred on to kill more by their witch of a leader Hasina (and no you silly arabs, she is not a religious scholar). Who can forget October 28th 2006?

Voting no is opting out of the 'promise the heaven and deliver hell' approach to politics. Not prolonging it. The reason is simply because the society faces serious questions and there is a lot of work to do. There is only so long you can ignore them.

The bigger questions for bangladesh include:How has the cult of Mujib and 71 mythology become so emotionally and rationally retarding on the public imagination?How are secularism, atheism and Muslim stagnancy related to each other?How can the public be made more aware of what secularism actually means?How can this society reform itself and promote virtue above vice?How do we resolve the treachery problem of the Awami League, and increasingly other parties? They seem bound by conscience to run into the arms of adversaries for backing, amplify conflicts and spread chaos?People have been encultured with a narrow multiply persecuted monocultural experience for a while. What implications does this have?People are more interested in religion now than in recent decades. How can this rediscovering and envelope pushing process be qualitatively and quantitatively assisted?What kind of public adminstration do we need?How can people be induced to paying tax?How do we protect the land and the people from environmental, intellectual, corporate and political invasion?How can we improve the three educational streams present in the society?How much longer can such a fake donor fueled and schooled civil society persist without us completely losing our dignity?